by Mindy Thomas & Guy Raz ; illustrated by Dave Coleman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 7, 2023
A boffo browser’s buffet tailor-made for delighted sharing.
Two hundred fifty “bonkerballs” facts presented by two perpetually gobsmacked mavens of marvels.
Pivoting from their podcast, the two authors dish up an array of fantastic-but-true tidbits arranged in 15 broad categories, from facts to gross readers out to accidental discoveries and inventions, unusual buildings, weather extremes, trivia about numbers, and (in deference to a feathered sidekick who pops up frequently in the artwork) astounding exploits by pigeons. Rather than being shoveled in, the pithy entries are spaced out to just one or two per page to make them easier to savor individually and, along with appearances of Thomas and Raz mini-mes offering quips or reaction shots, are accompanied by photos overlaid with cartoon googly eyes and like enhancements. Scattershot and source-free as the contents may be, they’re certain to broaden any young audience’s range of interests—whether identifying the largest known star, pointing out that Maine is the closest U.S. state to Africa and humans are the only animals with chins, noting that fish burp, or revealing the key ingredient in the “monkeys ’n’ cream” ice cream sold in Tokyo. Like their real-life counterparts, the cartoon versions of Thomas and Raz present White.
A boffo browser’s buffet tailor-made for delighted sharing. (photo credits) (Nonfiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-358-69709-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
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by Mindy Thomas & Guy Raz ; illustrated by Mike Centeno
by Mindy Thomas & Guy Raz ; illustrated by Jack Teagle
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by Joanna Rzezak ; illustrated by Joanna Rzezak ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 18, 2021
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
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by Joanna Rzezak ; illustrated by Joanna Rzezak
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by Joanna Rzezak ; illustrated by Joanna Rzezak
by Mike Lowery ; illustrated by Mike Lowery ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 7, 2021
A quick flight but a blast from first to last.
A charged-up roundup of astro-facts.
Having previously explored everything awesome about both dinosaurs (2019) and sharks (2020), Lowery now heads out along a well-traveled route, taking readers from the Big Bang through a planet-by-planet tour of the solar system and then through a selection of space-exploration highlights. The survey isn’t unique, but Lowery does pour on the gosh-wow by filling each hand-lettered, poster-style spread with emphatic colors and graphics. He also goes for the awesome in his selection of facts—so that readers get nothing about Newton’s laws of motion, for instance, but will come away knowing that just 65 years separate the Wright brothers’ flight and the first moon landing. They’ll also learn that space is silent but smells like burned steak (according to astronaut Chris Hadfield), that thanks to microgravity no one snores on the International Space Station, and that Buzz Aldrin was the first man on the moon…to use the bathroom. And, along with a set of forgettable space jokes (OK, one: “Why did the carnivore eat the shooting star?” “Because it was meteor”), the backmatter features drawing instructions for budding space artists and a short but choice reading list. Nods to Katherine Johnson and NASA’s other African American “computers” as well as astronomer Vera Rubin give women a solid presence in the otherwise male and largely White cast of humans. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A quick flight but a blast from first to last. (Informational picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-35974-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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by Laura Murray ; illustrated by Mike Lowery
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by Laura Murray ; illustrated by Mike Lowery
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